Special Agents Samantha Giovanni and Brian Chesterton were both assigned to work security at a benefit that would host several congress members. One of which was a local Senator from New York who had been receiving death threats.
"This is quite boring. I'd rather be investigating real crimes than being stuck here babysitting a bunch of stuffy suits." Brian complained.
"Oh, come on, it's an honor to be a part of the Senator's protection detail, right?" Samantha asked in a way that didn't exactly reassure him.
There was a commotion near the bar area as they talked between themselves. Two men were getting in a scuffle. One was a congressman from Oregon who had a reputation for drinking too much. The other man had landed a couple of punches on him that cut up his face. As security moved in on him, he started running away.
"I got him!" Brian called out as he started to chase after him.
Samantha was checking on the Senator, but she followed after him as soon as she could. Considering what happened to him the last time he chased a suspect alone, she was concerned.
When she finally caught up with him, she found him on the floor with a large welt on his face. She helped him up, checked him out, and ensured he was okay.
"I'm fine; I just got bruised up a bit, is all." He said.
Apparently, the suspect had fled by jumping out of the window after he punched Brian. There were now no leads of where he could have gone or even who he was.
Several days later, Brian and Samantha returned to their usual routine of working cases. It was later in the day, and almost every agent was already at the office, but Brian was the only one who hadn't made it in yet. Samantha was starting to get concerned when he finally walked through the doors.
"Hey, sorry I'm late. I was a little out of sorts this morning, is all." He said as he walked in. His appearance was pale and clammy. He was sweating profusely, and his face was swollen. "Sam, did you have time to review the data I gave you last night?"
"Brian, you look terrible. Are you doing alright?" Samantha asked, deeply concerned.
"Yeah, of course, I'm fine; let's just… get back to work." He said through labored breaths.
An agent then walked in and gave them some disturbing news. "Hey, did you guys hear about Senator Smith, the one who got in the fight at the benefit last week? Well, apparently, he just died this morning. He had been sick for a few days. It was unbelievable, just came out of nowhere. They think maybe he was poisoned, but they haven't been able to figure out what kind."
What? That's..." Samantha was about to respond when Brian passed out and fell to the floor. They immediately rushed him to the hospital; as Samantha feared, he had the same symptoms as the Senator, who had died just earlier that morning.
"Apparently, they did find some kind of poison in Brian's system, but they can't identify it. What's more, there's no indication of how it entered his body in the first place. There were no injection marks, and they didn't find any traces of the poison in his stomach. So, it wasn't ingested. I'm afraid we don't have much to go on. I'm sorry." The lab technician told a distraught Samantha.
"This doesn't make any sense. Well, is there anything that can be done to help him?" She asked through tears.
"I'm afraid not; without knowing what kind of poison it is, we couldn't possibly develop the antidote."
"So our only hope is to catch the guy who did this and get an antidote from him, or at least get him to tell what kind of poison he used?"
"I suppose, but like I said, it's impossible to even know how he got poisoned, let alone who did it."
"It doesn't matter. We have to do it, so we will." She said, wiping her tears and resolving herself. "So, how long do you think we have?"
"Well, there are similarities with the Senator that died this morning, but Agent Chesterton is younger and in better shape, so I'd say we have about 4-5 days. But that's being extremely optimistic."
"That settles it; we'll find and catch this guy in the next 5 days."
Samantha led the investigation team in trying to find the man who poisoned him. They quickly concluded that the man who fought with both the Senator from Oregon and Brian was the same man who poisoned them. After all, it was the only connection between the two men who had the same symptoms. However, they still couldn't figure out what the perp had used to poison them both. He didn't inject them, he didn't slip anything in their food or drink, and he didn't use an airborne poison because it would have affected more than just the two of them.
Samantha set the team to search for alternative methods of poisoning, no matter how bizarre or far-fetched until one of her team members came up with a theory.
"Ma'am? I found information on a way to poison someone other than the ways we ruled out." A junior agent said nervously.
"Alright, good! So, spit it out already! We're working against the clock, remember?" Samantha said impatiently.
"Yes, well. It's just. It's a bit out there." She said.
"I don't care; just tell me I'll take anything we can get at this point!"
"Yes, ma'am, it's called the Poison Fist technique. It's an ancient Chinese martial art that was supposedly used for assassinations. The technique works by the user soaking his hands in poison and then transferring the poison through skin-to-skin contact. Although apparently, it can work quicker if it enters the bloodstream by opening cuts. But! This is just an old story; there's no record that this technique is actually real."
"It doesn't matter whether or not it's real. It's the only lead we have right now. We'll have to chase it. But how would we even investigate an ancient Chinese martial art? Martial arts? I got it!" Samantha said, suddenly struck by inspiration.
Suddenly, she was at the door of an apartment, knocking furiously.
"Hey, Hey, Hey. Who's knocking on my door so early in the morning?" A man's voice said as the door slowly opened. The man in question was Peter Martinez; it had barely been a few weeks since the incident with Karasovitch. "Hey, I thought you said you guys were going to leave me alone. I haven't caused any trouble, just like we agreed. Though I have struggled to get a new job since you guys ruined my last one." He said in an annoyed tone.
Samantha then burst into tears. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry. It's not your guy's fault Karasovitch was a bad guy or whatever. You don't need to cry about it." He said as he was confused about what to do next.
Samantha then brought Peter up to speed on the current situation and took him to the hospital where Brian was staying.